..::Realizing What We Have::.. [Rusty&Ironic]

"We have a breaking news announcement..." The news chirped to life, interrupting Shae's favorite program; Scifi's Face Off. Sitting crisscrossed on the leather sofa, silently she munched on her bag of Lays chips, the soft crunching sounds of her chewing filling her ears. What was it this time? A robbery? A fire? A kidnapping? Everything on the news always seemed to be filled with negative content instead of highlighting the good in the world. Sighing softly, she listened anyways, cocking an eyebrow to see what the big deal was.

The television screen filled with a female news anchor, fear consuming her beautiful young face. Shea's eyes already grew wide, having a gut feeling that something terrible had gone wrong. To the right side of her showed live footage, an army of something... but the camera was too far away to zoom in good enough for the resolution to focus. "Dad, come in here." Shea shouted aloud, fear coating her throat.

"As you can see to the right of me, this is live footage of the oncoming zombie Apocalypse that is taking place by the Illinois State Park." She stated with a shaky voice, her hands quivering as she held her papers in her hand, tears forming in her tear ducts. "Due to a recent study, scientists figured out an injection to bring the dead back to life, but apparently it has taken a turn for the absolute worst." She began to say, making Shae's jaw begin to open widely, shock consuming her petite eighteen year old body. "Dad, get in here, now!" She shouted, her body feeling... numb. Was she dreaming? The Illinois State Park was only a mere 20 minute drive from her house, and the only thoughts that began to race in her head was... how long until they reached her house.

Taken her sun-fire hair, she tucked it behind her ear, her heart beating wildly in her little chest. How was this real? This was something that they made shows about, not turning it into a reality! She couldn't watch this anymore, she needed to tell her dad. Walking upstairs, she peeked into his room, noticing that he was folding his clothes, bobbing his head up and down as white headphones were placed in his ear. Walking up behind him, she tapped on his shoulder, her fingers trembling with fear, her adrenaline rushing along with it. She had to tell him...

Biting at her quivering lower lip, she shook her head at her dad, sniffling as her tears were beginning to make her nose runny. "No dad, It's not James..." She began to explain, her mouth feeling dry suddenly. "On the television downstairs, they are talking about a Zombie Apocalypse happening at the State Park." Her hands trembled, but she found a way to grasp on to her fathers right hand, gripping it firmly and leading him downstairs.

Benjamin was everything to Shae - he was all that she had left. She had no siblings, and no longer a loving mother, heck, Shae did not even know her mothers whereabouts, losing contact with her on the day she decided to walk away and never turn back. How could someone leave their daughter? A child they created, nurturing it and providing, until deciding they no longer had interests in it. This made her stomach knot up for a long time, but as time continued, it was easier to swallow, especially knowing that her father would always be by her side.

Walking down the white carpeted stairs, she led her father into the living room, staying silent the entire way there. The television still continued on, this time with the zombies into plain view, grunting as their decaying flesh limped their way towards the camera crew, who were hurriedly trying to scurry away. On the bottom of the screen was a bright red news ticker, explaining further on the risks and precautions for this horrific event. Squinting her eyes, Shea read aloud the bold white print...

"With estimated calculations, the State of Illinois will be infected with zombies within two days. Take cover. When bitten by a zombie, the victim will slowly and painfully form into the undead, making it possible for the population growth to increase rapidly." Clearing her throat, gasping almost, her sequined blue eyes sparkled at her father, looking up to him for direction, for hope.

"Dad... What do we do?" Whispering almost, her grip tightened on his hand, still not letting go; not even thinking about losing her grip with him. The last thing she wanted to happen was to lose her father too.

Benjamin was frowning a little bit when Shea looked at him worriedly and watched her shake her head and began to tear up a little bit. Before he even wanted to asked her about what was going on, the young girl took his hand and pulled him downstairs, after telling him about a most ridiculous statement that he had ever heard before; about zombies in State Park.

Again, when he was going to ask, Shea grabbed him by the hand and marched him downstairs. Ben was still in slight skepticism about the whole thing, and as much as Shea was mature enough to handle a lot of things, this was one story he found it to be an interesting cockup story to be sure.
She led him to the living room, where the television was on the entire time as Ben yanked the wireless earbuds off from his ears and the sounds of the reporter making her statement was clear to hear, as well as the images on screen. It was just as she had said; zombies were present and walking on the face of the earth, especially right now in Illinois. Ben stood there silent, listening slowly bit by bit and his face turned grim at the whole thing. Turning to her when she asked him about what would they do, he had nothing to say to her. All he knew was that this was the beginning of something bad, terribly.

“I don’t know, Shea.” He said lightly, but his voice was heavy with doubt as he tried to think about what to do. There was the option of going out, but that was not really an option, since he knew that sooner or later they would either be caught out panicking or worse. There was another option he was liked to hear about, as he thought about it for a while. “We bunk here for a few days. I have no idea what we could do later on, but the best option we have is to stay here. We have food, we have things. We should just board up the windows and all that. And yeah, Shea, it does sound like a scene from a zombie movie.” He chuckled. “You okay with that?”

Shae nodded firmly at her father's request, turning off the television to rid of the annoying voices. Never before has her heart galloped in her chest in such a way it was now. She didn't know what to do, and neither did her dad. "I guess that is the only option we can do for now, at least." Sighing heavily, she sat down on the couch again, her mind being consumed in a fog. She wished she could do something, anything, but she couldn't.

Figuring it would be best to get an early start, she quickly got up and went down into the basement, digging out some wood that was shielded away behind boxes. Grabbing a hand full of nails and a hammer, she walked back upstairs, carrying it all in one trip. "We better get a start, hm?" She laughed a bit, trying to lighten herself up from the awful occasion. Grabbing a piece of wood and a nail, she steadied the two, raising her hammer up with her right hand before forcefully slamming it down on the nail, making it so it was lodged in the wall by the window, blocking out a portion of it already. The light was already getting dimmer just by this one piece of wood alone, but anything to help.

"I'll do this side of the house while you do the rest, sound good?" She asked as she banged her hammer down, placing another piece of wood up.